SAM Allardyce has drawn up a shortlist of candidates for the key backroom posts he needs to fill following the departures of his assistant, Phil Brown, and first team coach, Neil McDonald.

The Wanderers boss admitted to being "surprised" by the loss of his two senior aides.

Brown was unveiled as manager of Derby County at tea time on Friday just a couple of hours after McDonald officially joined Crystal Palace as assistant manager to Iain Dowie.

Allardyce has wasted no time in checking out potential replacements from a long list of applicants. He will select his new number two from a shortlist of three or four hand-picked candidates and aims to start the interview process as a matter of urgency.

He has refused to confirm or deny that Peter Reid, his long time friend and former Bolton team-mate, who has extensive management experience with Manchester City, Sunderland, Leeds and Coventry City, is on the shortlist.

Former Newcastle coach, John Carver, who was Sir Bobby Robson's right hand man and more recently academy director at St James' Park until he was sacked last week, has also been touted as a possible target.

However, Allardyce is determined to conduct his interviews in secret.

"I'm keeping all my business private and confidential and not speculating on anybody," he said.

"We'll go through a strict interview process to make sure we pick the right man for the job.

"A huge amount of people have expressed a wish to come and work with me, which is very nice and the candidates look good for both these jobs, but the interview process will have to be very good because replacing Phil and Neil will be very, very difficult."

Although Wanderers will receive undisclosed compensation for the loss of their two experienced backroom men, Allardyce never had any intention of standing in their way. Having them targeted by rival clubs, he said, was a consequence of Wanderers' sustained success.

"It's the team behind me and not just the team on the field that has helped us grow as a club," he said. "So other clubs were bound to come knocking.

"It's just been a surprise that Phil's move came so soon after Macca's, but he always wanted to be a manager - he was disappointed he didn't get the job at Bolton in the first place, when I came here.

"He goes with my blessing. This is a great opportunity for him. It's going to be a difficult job under the financial circumstances but he's joining a club with ready made facilities and with its own ground and academy.

"I got quite a shock when I heard Neil wanted to go but he got on well with Iain Dowie when they did their coaching courses together and I knew Iain wanted to take him to Crystal Palace when he first got the job there but Neil thought it was a bit too early for him."

Despite the distraction of having to fill vacancies in his backroom team, Allardyce is still desperately trying to recruit new players.

His only signing to date is El-Hadji Diouf, who converted his loan from Liverpool last season into a permanent transfer on a four-year contract, and he admits to having been frustrated at failing to land other targets on his wanted list.

The story is a familiar one but there was a hint of impatience in his tone when he said: "We've got to get moving pretty quickly."